Barack Obama made part of his historic journey to the White House on foot,
after promising to "begin again the work of remaking America" in
his inaugural address.

The president and his wife Michelle emerged from their armoured limousine to walk a section of the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, smiling and cheering at the cheering crowds who braved the cold to welcome the new first couple.

Amid tight security, hundreds of people nearby who had packed on rooftops and balconies above the street broke into loud, rousing cheers.

Earlier, Mr Obama was sworn in as the first black president of the United States, telling the world that "we are ready to lead once more".

During the inauguration silence descended on a record crowd – estimated at more than two million – that stretched as far as the eye could see from the US Capitol, as a beaming Mr Obama took the oath of office on the same bible, held by his wife, that President Abraham Lincoln used in 1861.

Shortly afterwards, former President George W Bush, who was mocked with chants of "goodbye" by a section of the crowd as he took to the inaugural stage, boarded a helicopter to take him to Andrew Air Force base from where he was flown to Crawford, Texas and his Prairie Chapel ranch.

In a bold and at times sombre 18-minute inaugural speech, Mr Obama pledged to rally Americans to a "new era of responsibility", lamenting a profound "sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sight".

America was facing an economic crisis caused by greed, he said, but also "our collective failure to make hard choices".

The 44th US president and the first Democrat for eight years emphasised that although "the challenges we face are real" but they could be overcome.

"They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met."

It was a day of high emotion for many Americans, particularly blacks who had lived through segregation and discrimination.

"It was an unbelievable moment," said Beverly Peters, in her 60s, who was in Memphis, Tennessee when the civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968.

"It is a dream that has become a reality. Barack Obama is the man God destined to lead us in this hour of need. I always believed that everything was possible and that a black man would become president."